Bourbon Stories at the Serra – Affabulazione, Expressions of Polycentric Naples

Theatre, dance, and music in Bourbon Naples

Bourbon Stories at the Serra is a multidisciplinary festival hosted by the Teatro Serra in Fuorigrotta, Naples, as part of Affabulazione – Expressions of Polycentric Naples, a project promoted by the Municipality of Naples and funded by the National Performing Arts Fund of the Ministry of Culture. Curated by the Associazione Motus, the festival debuted from November 19 to 23, 2025, with five evening shows and five workshops, all free of charge.

This is not a typical street festival: it is an intense theatrical journey, held over five consecutive nights, where different companies use diverse artistic languages to explore the same historical theme. The result is a multi-faceted portrait of the Kingdom of Naples.

Affabulazione: the city telling its own story, neighborhood by neighborhood

Affabulazione was created to bring live performance to the suburbs of Naples and rebalance the cultural offerings of the Metropolitan City. Each participating Municipality is assigned a historical period to recount, allowing the entire urban narrative to form a mosaic: Greco-Roman Naples, the Norman to Angevin era, Aragonese Naples, the Viceregal period up to 1799, and the 20th century. Municipality 10, which includes Fuorigrotta and Bagnoli, was tasked with depicting Bourbon Naples: the long 18th and 19th centuries that gave the capital of the Kingdom its architecture, reforms, social contradictions, and one of the most refined court lives in Europe.

The fourth edition of the project took place from June 6 to November 29, 2025, across six Municipalities, featuring dozens of performances and educational activities, all free of charge with reservation.

Five companies, five perspectives

In Fuorigrotta, five Neapolitan groups took turns, each offering their own vision of the theme. The November 2025 program featured:

• Varco Attivo with Women of Power and Resistance, directed by Patrizia Eger, featuring Patrizia Eger, Maria Strazzullo, and Massimo Finelli, with music by Sergio Mautone;
• Dramadonna with Tanucci's Influence at the Court of King Ferdinand, directed by Cinzia Mirabella, featuring Cinzia Mirabella and Patrizia Di Martino, with live music by Marcello Vitale;
• Akerusia Danza with Bourbon Naples – Splendor and Contradictions of a Kingdom, written and performed by Anita Mosca, choreography by Sabrina D'Aguanno, with live music by Julia Primicile Carafa;
• Itinerarte with Eleonora and Carolina, featuring Giorgia Palombi and Susanna Poole;
• Naturarte with The Aragonese Women in Naples – Tales and Songs, directed by Patrizia Di Martino, featuring Patrizia Di Martino and Marcella Vitiello, with live music by Gianni Migliaccio.

The workshops: the audience takes the stage

Each performance is accompanied by a free workshop led by the artists themselves, held on the afternoon preceding the evening show. These three-hour sessions are dedicated to the conflicting emotions of Bourbon Naples, court intrigues, oral storytelling, traditional masks, and daily life in the Kingdom through historical improvisation. This is the most participatory part of the festival, making it a true community project.

The Teatro Serra, a cultural landmark in Fuorigrotta

The venue is the Teatro Serra, located at Via Diocleziano 316, an intimate space that has been animating the cultural life of Fuorigrotta for years with its own season and theatre school. The Phlegraean area, with its craters and ancient royal hunting grounds, was long a leisure destination for the Bourbon court, and today it coexists with the dense, popular Naples of the stadium and the Mostra d'Oltremare.

A free project for everyone

All events, including shows and workshops, are free to attend with mandatory reservation, following the rule imposed by the Municipality of Naples for projects funded by Affabulazione: it is one of the most accessible ways to discover Neapolitan experimental theatre.

Looking towards 2026

The Municipality of Naples has published the Affabulazione 2026 call for proposals, with a total budget of approximately 900,000 euros allocated for theatre, music, and dance performances in the city's suburbs, including Bagnoli, Soccavo, Ponticelli, Barra, Scampia, Miano, Secondigliano, and Poggioreale. Selected projects will take place from September 20 to December 10, 2026, must include at least five performances with workshop activities, and must remain free of charge. As of the writing of this guide, a new edition of "Bourbon Stories at the Serra" has not been announced; the return of the festival remains to be confirmed.